Save Money — Learn the Art of ‘Haggling’

In some countries, haggling is all part of the buying process. From time to time, when visiting other countries, I've haggled over prices and 9 times out of 10 you can save some pretty good money.

Here in the states though, haggling is not that common, but it can be done if you know what businesses are willing to deal with you.

Here are a few places where you can haggle on the price.

The companies that are most willing to adjust a price for you are those with high mark-ups and lots of competition. For example:

1. Satellite and cable TV service

While there may not be a lot of options in a given area, competition is fierce. Many times these companies will waive certain equipment fees or offer pretty good discounts especially if you bundle several services from the same company.

2. Real estate commissions.

Here's another business where the competition is just unreal. Today's real estate agent not only has competition from all the other real estate agents in any given market, but a lot of people are opting to bypass the agent and market their homes on-line. All the competition makes real estate a great business for the art of the haggle.

3. Jewelry.

Most of the haggling I've done is for jewelry items. Here's something to keep in mind. The retail mark-up on jewelry is huge! Most of the time, jewelry is marked up anywhere from 100% to 300% so these companies are still going to make a decent profit off the sale. Hey, make an offer, the worst they can do is decline the offer.

4. College tuition.

Haggle for college tuition? Generally, this is not an area for price haggling, but if you have more than one kid attending the same college, they just might give you a 'volume discount.'

5. Furniture.

This is one area where Americans usually do haggle. Even if you can't get a big discount, you can usually walk away with free delivery. Again, this is a business with tons of competition, so that might make them more willing to deal especially if you are buying several pieces.

6. Musical instruments.

Again, healthy mark-ups and a fair amount of competition. The big chains like Guitar Center aren't as responsive to haggling, but local stores that depend on selling band instruments get pretty generous around school time.

7. Gym memberships.

TONS of competition. That's all you need to make a deal.

8. Cruise tickets.

Cruise lines may not haggle if you are booking 6 months out, but try booking a cruise one week before departure and the cruise lines are just trying to fill the empty space on the boat. You can really save a lot by waiting until the last minute.

9. Credit card rates.

This one only works if you have excellent credit. If you're one of those people, let them compete for your business.

10. Back taxes. The old IRS is long gone. If you can convince them that there is no way you can pay all your back taxes, they'll usually make a reasonable settlement. You can do this by yourself , by the way, no need to go out and hire one of those hundreds of companies that promise you that only they can deal with the IRS. This deal only works if you have a few years of back taxes.